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Have you ever re-invented yourself, your career, your dreams? I’m guest blogging today at Riding with the Top Down, chatting about my e-publishing journey so far. Please stop by and say hi if you get the chance. Many thanks to fellow Minnesota author and all-around nice person Kathleen Eagle for inviting me to take a ride in the RWTD convertible!
Back in my trad-pub days, I was an active member of several writers’ organizations, including Romance Writers of America, the Authors Guild, and Novelists Inc. Now that I’m an indie author, I’ve left some of those groups behind because they seem out of touch, as if they belong to another era.
Today, I belong to only one writers’ organization, the one that has embraced the digital revolution and indie authors with unmatched enthusiasm: Novelists Inc.
If you’re a successful author of popular fiction (mystery, romance, SF/F, horror, thrillers, etc.) I encourage you to consider joining Ninc. Founded in 1989, Ninc is the only organization devoted exclusively to the needs of multi-published novelists. Today, that includes helping indie authors like you and me learn how to boost our sales and take our careers to the next level.
Here are just a few of the special guests you’ll meet at NINC 2012 this October:
If you’re interested in traditional publishing, you’ll also have the chance to network with industry professionals like Donald Maass, Robert Gottlieb, Jane Dystel, and Jennifer Brehl, editorial director at William Morrow.
Ninc isn’t for everyone. Take a look at their membership requirements and you’ll see that authors need to reach a certain level of success before applying. But even if you haven’t reached that level yet, you can still take part in the Ninc conference by signing up for First Word, a one-day pre-conference that’s open to everyone.
Ninc’s annual conference has become a hotspot for indie-author brainstorming and the best place to meet some of the top names in the ebook business. I just registered and booked my flight. I’ll look forward to seeing you there.
I stopped at my local Barnes & Noble today, on my annual post-Christmas pilgrimage to pick up a desk calendar and Christmas cards on clearance. (Hey, I’m a mom on a budget.) At the checkout, the cashier reminded me that it’s almost time to renew my annual B&N membership.
“And we’ve made one small change to the program,” she said, handing me my receipt and a slip of paper entitled New Member Program Benefits.
Wow. Here’s the small change: Barnes & Noble is no longer offering members a 20% discount on all adult hardcover books. We still get 40% off hardcover bestsellers, 10% on all other B&N merchandise, free shipping, and other goodies. But the traditional 20% adult hardcover discount has been cut in half.
And they’ve added one new benefit, spelled out in boldface type at the top of the slip: a $25 discount on a Nook Color.
“In other words,” I said, surprised that I hadn’t heard about this, “Barnes & Noble would prefer that its customers buy Nook books instead of hardcover books.”
“Well …” The cashier glanced nervously over her shoulder at the manager and lowered her voice. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
Maybe it’s just me, but this “small change” seems like big news. The nation’s largest chain of brick-and-mortar bookstores is encouraging its customers–its most loyal, frequent customers–to buy more ebooks and fewer hardcovers.
In all the talk about the demise of physical books, most pundits have foretold that mass-market paperbacks would be the first to go. Readers of popular fiction are happily going digital by the millions, and MMPB sales have been cut in half, according to GalleyCat. (Notice the ebook sales in that same chart? Up by 100.9%.) Hardcovers, the conventional wisdom goes, will survive because they appeal to a different audience.
Now B&N is giving that audience a subtle nudge in the digital direction. A 20% discount made it worthwhile to get in my car and drive to B&N to pick up the new hardcover I just read about in People magazine. But a 10% discount? Meh. Might as well stay home and buy the e-book. And if the ebook edition isn’t available yet? Maybe I’ll just wait.
If more and more B&N customers start making similar decisions, what will it mean for hardcover sales? And what will it mean for B&N’s bottom line? Mass-market paperbacks are an endangered species. If hardcovers also begin to lose their appeal, while ebooks continue to surge … why would B&N need brick-and-mortar stores at all?
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